Endless Winter
by Tracey1
Summary: An Endless Winter has befallen the world! Articuno, the legendary Ice Pokémon has been reported missing so Tracey Sketchit decides to attempt finding it to end the obscene icy weather once and for all! Along the way he gets some help from various train
1. Endless Winter Chapter 1

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The Rewrite: Chapter 1  
  
A snowflake slowly drifted down from the sky, landing in the clear turquoise waters of the Orange Archipelago. The icy cotton balls continued drifting downward, slowly covering the whole planet in a white, powdery blanket. From time to time, the snow picked up a bit, causing strong winds to blast by at high speeds.  
  
To the north, Tracey was drawn away from his drawing by the constantly falling flakes outside of the window. It didn't snow much where he came from - the Orange Islands. Professor Oak walked into the room looking stressed.  
  
"Tracey, I need you to do me a favor," Oak began. Tracey looked away from the window and paid close attention to what the professor had to say, quietly wondering about what he would be asked to do. "As you know, it's been snowing for three days," he continued. "There's at least 2 feet of snow on the ground. It's getting hard to walk through it to get to the Pokémon.which is a problem for me because there are still a lot outside from before this storm started. Could you please go out there and try to bring them back in?"  
  
"Yes, I'll try," Tracey told the professor. He glanced out the window again and then started walking toward the front door. While ambling through the lab, he noticed that a television was on a news channel in a room that he was passing by. He stepped into the room.  
  
".The recent weather pattern has been very irregular," the reporter said. "There is no explanation as to why this blizzard started, but there are different beliefs about where it could have come from. Some people claim that it came from a story written by a Jr. High student, while many others think that the source of the storm is coming from the small archipelago that contains Shamouti Island. Ironically, the mystical bird Articuno was also reported missing from it's home on Ice Island, or so the Shamouti residents told us."  
  
Tracey was shocked when he heard this. He ran back to the Professor in a rush. He explained why he had come back, "Professor, I need to go back to the Orange Archipelago. I have a bad feeling about what is going on."  
  
"But Tracey," Oak said in surprise. "What about the Pokémon?"  
  
"They'll have to wait," he answered desperately. "Do you want this snow to get worse? Articuno is missing, and if it isn't found soon, then this blizzard will never end! The balance of nature has been thrown off again!"  
  
"If you truly feel that you must go, then that's how it will have to be," the professor sighed. "I'll help you pack, since I'd imagine you don't have a lot of winter clothes." Tracey thanked Professor Oak for his help. They started putting things into Tracey's large backpack.  
  
Tracey was ready to embark on his personal mission. He headed toward the door when Professor Oak stopped him.  
  
"Tracey, wait," Oak held him back. "Your Pokémon are in no condition to travel in weather like this. I'm worried about your Scyther. Here, take these." He put four PokéBalls into Tracey's hand.  
  
Tracey looked at the PokéBalls. "Which Pokémon are these?"  
  
"Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, and Pikachu," he listed. "I'll hold onto your Scyther for you while you're away. While using these, I'd prefer that you don't make them evolve, but if it's a life or death situation, make the smartest choice."  
  
"Thank you Professor Oak," Tracey said as he put the four Pokémon away. "Hopefully I'll make it back successfully." He walked out of laboratory and into the icy nightmare. 


	2. Endless Winter Chapter 2

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The Rewrite: Chapter 2  
  
As soon as Tracey took a few steps away from the lab, a bright blue light flashed across the sky. He stared up at it, only to have his vision blurred by larger, harder snowflakes. "What was it?" he wondered to himself, not noticing that the snow had grown thicker.  
  
Tracey trudged onward through the snow, slowly passing by the Ketchum residence, and later to the water's edge - all the way across Pallet Town. He took out one of the new PokéBalls that Oak had given him. Bulbasaur appeared in the snow in front of him. It looked up and smiled.  
  
"Okay, Bulbasaur," Tracey told it in a gentle voice. "Do me a favor and step onto the ice. Give me a signal if it's thick enough for me to walk across."  
  
Bulbasaur stepped cautiously onto the icy ocean. It smiled in approval. "Bulba!" Tracey smiled back at it, returned it to its PokéBall, and confidently stepped onto the ice. He took out a compass and began heading south towards the Orange Archipelago and Shamouti Island.  
  
After about an hour of walking through 30 inches of snow, Tracey sat down, exhausted. He hadn't traveled much after he became Professor Oak's aide, and trying to get through cold weather was even more difficult. He shivered and opened the PokéBall containing Charmander. It sat on the ice, which slowly melted back to water. Tracey was busy warming up and didn't realize what was happening, but when he did, he got an idea.  
  
"Squirtle, go!"  
  
Minutes later, he was surfing through the ocean on the Squirtle that Oak had lent him. Charmander was sitting on the Squirtle's head, breathing fire into the icy ocean to melt it, giving Squirtle it's own river to meander through. "At this rate," Tracey thought to himself, "I'll get there in no time!" The team continued smoothly sailing toward the sea, towards the archipelago.  
  
Suddenly, Squirtle stopped. "Squirtle, squirtle! Squirtle, squirtle! SQUIRT!" Tracey, who had been dozing off, suddenly was alert. A large fire was burning in front of the small trio, and a few people were sitting on the ice.  
  
"What happened here?!" 


	3. Endless Winter Chapter 3

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The Rewrite: Chapter 3  
  
Tracey saw before him a wrecked blimp. It was burning and melting all of the ice around it. The passengers sat uneasily on floating pieces of ice, trying to spot their belongings among the flames and under the icy cold water. Others were clustered around something on the solid part of the ice. Tracey hopped off of Squirtle, called the Pokémon back, and walked over to the people.  
  
He easily pushed his way into the circle and saw that they were standing around a girl who looked to be about Ash or Misty's age. She was dressed in a unique red outfit and had a white PokéGear around her neck. An Aipom was nudging her, trying to wake her up while the other people whispered. "Is she alive?" "Yes, she's breathing." "That's good, but we have to keep a close eye on her." Tracey examined her more closely. He began asking questions to the person standing next to him.  
  
"What happened to her?" he asked in a worried tone.  
  
"We are from Johto, and we heard the news about Shamouti Island, so we figured that we would travel here to investigate. Unfortunately, our blimp crashed, and when it did, this girl fell out, crashed through the ice, and landed in the water," the man sighed morosely.  
  
"In this weather?!" Tracey exclaimed in panic. He stepped farther into the circle and sat down next to her. Not an inch of her was dry, and she shivered from time to time. Tracey thought about what he could do, and suddenly got an idea.  
  
"Charmander, go!"  
  
The fire-breathing lizard sat on the ice, carefully holding it's tail up. Tracey picked it up and put it next to the girl. Then he opened his backpack and pulled out a blanket, which he lay over her. He spoke to the man again, "Is she your daughter?"  
  
"No, she's not," the man responded. "I'm Professor Hale, and my daughter is at home."  
  
Tracey recognized the name, and when he thought harder, his face from a photograph at both the Oak Laboratory and the Ketchum residence. He was Professor Oak's friend who lived in Greenfield and studied Unown. He also unpleasantly recalled when Oak left for Greenfield without inviting Tracey along for the adventure when Prof. Hale was kidnapped. He turned his attention back to the girl. She stopped shivering, and slowly opened her eyes.  
  
"Where am I?" she asked weakly and looked up at Tracey. 


	4. Endless Winter Chapter 4

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The Rewrite: Chapter 4  
  
The girl slowly sat up.  
  
"Where am I? What happened?" she asked, looking disturbed and confused.  
  
"You're lying on the ice because the blimp you were riding here in crashed," Tracey told her. "Who are you?"  
  
"I'm Lisa," she introduced herself. "I'm a Pokémon trainer." The Aipom grinned and sat down contentedly. "Who are you?"  
  
"I'm Tracey, Professor Oak's assistant," he said proudly. "Lisa, because of what happened, we have to get you to a hospital quickly - or at least a Pokémon Center."  
  
"Okay," she agreed, still unsure about what had happened. She stood up quickly, but sat down abruptly. "I can't stand up."  
  
"I see." Tracey tried not to bother her about how embarrassed she looked. "Don't worry, I can still get you there. Marill, Squirtle, Charmander, go!" The three creatures looked first at Tracey, then at Lisa. "Marill, I'm going to ride on you. Squirtle, you're going to carry Lisa on your shell. Charmander, you're going to sit near the front again, but try to keep her warm," he hinted toward Lisa. He turned to Professor Hale and the other people in the crowd; "I'll take Lisa. You should find a way to get back to Johto. I feel that it's my job to set things right - I've seen it done before, and I'm sure it can be done again." Hale and the others nodded in approval.  
  
"Good luck to both of you," echoed several times in several variations from the group of Johto researchers.  
  
The oddly assorted team continued on the same way as before, with Charmander melting the ice and the two water types surfing through the ocean. They continued for several more hours, and Lisa was continuously asking questions.  
  
"When did the blimp crash? What happened to me? Why did it happen the way it did?" were among the things that she wanted to know. Tracey patiently answered all of her questions.  
  
It began to grow dark. Tracey wondered if they had gotten very far at all because land was not yet visible. He debated whether to continue surfing or to stop and spend the night on the ice. Either choice was extremely dangerous for different reasons. If he continued going, it might have negative effects on Lisa's health as well as his own, and the Pokémon might get too tired to continue. If this happened and there was not a Pokémon Center around, then their journey might end right there and then - but if he stayed, then the ice could break through and they could drown during the night in the sub-zero water. Then he decided to get Lisa's opinion.  
  
"How are you faring so far?" he asked. "Should we stop for the day?"  
  
"I'm doing all right," she lied. She was really feeling weak, tired, and chilled to the bone. "We should keep going." She hugged her Aipom for warmth.  
  
Tracey believed her completely and told the Pokémon to continue surfing. 


End file.
